Celebrity Health

Larry Flynt's Hustler Club is not closing up shop as fears mount over the spread of coronavirus -- instead, it's educating customers on cleaning up their act ... pre-lap dance!!!

The Las Vegas strip club actually has a PSA to remind its patrons about the best coronavirus defense ... simply washing your hands. Hustler's hammering home the point with an assist from some of its dancers.

It's catchy -- the video, that is -- but the Surgeon General would NOT approve of the face mask use!!! Not due to the boobs, but because they don't actually protect you.

Seriously though, a Vegas strip joint might seem like a potential coronavirus hot zone. It's got tourists from around the globe, cash is notoriously filthy and there's the up-close contact of a lap dance -- but the Hustler Club's taking extra precautions.

We're told Larry Flynt's hired a professional custodian company -- super-janitors if you will -- to sanitize the club daily. They've also hired additional porters for more on-the-spot cleaning throughout the night. Phew.

You'll probably still go home broke and covered in glitter, but you won't have a deadly virus. Most likely. No promises.

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants fans at his Sports Festival in Ohio to be safe from coronavirus but doesn't understand why the Governor is shutting them down while allowing much larger sporting events to continue.

The Arnold Sports Festival, which begins today in Columbus, will have very few fans in attendance after Governor Mike DeWine announced they were closing the event to spectators out of concern for the spread of coronavirus.

As we reported, Arnold fully agreed with shutting down the expo associated with the event. It's a massive trade show that draws 250,000 people each year.

After the Governor's announcement, Arnold fired off a letter to him, saying, "Health will always be more important than money to me." However, he also pointed out in the letter several other huge events were continuing without any government limitations.

For instance, he says, "March madness games in Cleveland and Dayton will go forward as planned with tens of thousands of attendees." In addition, Cleveland Cavaliers and Columbus Blue Jacket games -- which have nearly 20,000 spectators -- are also being played. Not to mention several other upcoming conventions in Columbus.

While Arnold agreed with closing the much larger expo for his festival ... its sporting events have no more than 4,000 fans at a single event.

A WorldStar Hip Hop exec wasn't taking ANY chances in catching coronavirus ... he flew home from Tokyo looking like Dustin Hoffman in "Outbreak!"

Danny Cotton hit several hot spots in Asia last month in the midst of CV hysteria ... first in Hong Kong and then Malaysia. Cotton self-quarantined himself and his fiancee in an Airbnb rental property in Malaysia for 20 days. They were both fine, and wanted to stay that way.

Danny tells us he fully stocked the place with fruits and vegetables. His fiancee -- she's from China -- convinced him to eat raw garlic to boost his immune system.

Cotton tells us after the quarantine period he and his fiancee wanted to come to the U.S. ... but there was a big problem. She can't get a U.S. visa because of the outbreak, so she had to return to China. What's worse ... she's been told she may not get a visa for 2 years.

So, he made his way to Tokyo, where he boarded an ANA jumbo jet to take him home to L.A., leaving his fiancee far, far away.

Which now brings us to Danny's bodysuit. He spent 14 hours looking more like Walter White than a bigwig in the world of hip-hop.

People desperate to fend off the coronavirus are turning to online companies hawking face masks -- but some customers say they've been duped in what feels like a coronavirus con.

At least 2 online face mask stores are selling emergency accessories. They certainly have all the fixings of legit online companies ... flaunting their spiffy designs and slicks shots of "customers" using their gear.

We spoke to Stephen, a 29-year-old pastor in North Carolina who went to one of the sites -- a company called EM General -- to purchase 2 “Coronavirus N95” masks for $49.98 ... a bargain these days. It even includes replaceable filters.

One of Stephen's 3 young kids has a respiratory condition ... so, you can understand why he felt he'd really scored. As he put it, “I felt like I needed to find a mask, because they’re all selling out.”

After making his purchase though, Stephen got a little uneasy. He says the site has since updated its phone number from a Grand Rapids, MI number to a 1-800 number. It also altered its email address.

Perhaps most troubling are the profile photos of execs on EM General's website. For instance, there's a smiling, java-sipping shot of CEO Mike Thomas. Nice guy, right?

Problem is, a little Internet sleuthing turned up the same exact photos on at least 2 different company sites with no names, but different titles. Sure smells like someone's using stock photos.

Same goes for EM General's CFO and COO Grace H. Clark. Unless she's one of a set of triplets ... she’s also “Jennifer S.” offering testimonials for a piggy bank company, and "Anida Smith" promoting some kind of legal staffing company.

Again, the apparent stock images are a fishy sign -- and it all leaves Stephen feeling like he got rooked.

We tried to contact the company, and got an automated email reply blaming shipping snags on “HIGH volume of demand of our mask.”

We checked with the Better Business Bureau and it's on the job. We're told they're investigating EM General and several other companies involved in nearly a dozen similar complaints.

A BBB spokesperson tells us, "We have started seeing reports on BBB Scam Tracker from people who have lost money to online scams for face masks, and we’ve also seen reports of merchants using COVID-19 as an excuse for slow shipments and factory shutdowns. This is likely just the beginning."

Another company BBB is probing is called SafeMask which happens to share an address with a shutdown website called RussianBeautyOnline.com. The BBB's Scam Tracker Report says, SafeMask "may be a rebranding of a business with an 'F' rating."

We reached out to SafeMask and, so far, no response.

What's obvious here -- based on BBB investigations and customer experiences -- buyer beware when shopping for coronavirus gear.

Rep. Matt Gaetz is taking a better safe than sorry approach to coronavirus -- even when he's just voting on it -- 'cause he's got himself a gas mask on that could fight off the plague.

The FL Congressman was strolling in D.C. Wednesday shortly after meeting up with his House colleagues to vote on a new bill for emergency coronavirus funds -- $8.3 bil was ultimately greenlit, BTW. Back to him though -- he came in looking like this, left in it too.

As for whether he's taking things a little too seriously -- or not -- Gaetz says we're in dire times right now, and as a politician -- he's the most at risk.

Our camera guy asks if he thinks President Trump should get himself one of these high-tech masks, and MG jokes he doesn't think DT would go for it. And not for the reason you might expect either. Remember, The Donald is a huge germophobe (who apparently hasn't touched his face in weeks because of COVID-19). He's also a huge hairdo guy too.

As for whether would-be partiers should stay away from Gaetz's home state of Florida for this upcoming Spring Break -- check it out ... he encourages them to come out and rage.

Average Joes and Janes are digging deep into the family cookie jars to join jet-setters aboard private aircraft ... as fears of the COVID-19 bug spread far and wide.

The super-rich aren’t the only ones shelling out big coin to shake free of the sometimes cattle-herding experience called flying commercial. In fact, a bunch of private jet and charter plane brokerage corps told us people are coming in flocks to upgrade and fly private.

Why?

At the very least, traveling like a boss may offer some peace of mind as Coronavirus jitters mount.

Paramount Business Jets is a worldwide brokerage company with access to over 15,000 certified private jets.

When they’re not braving missions to whisk passengers out of virus hot spots, like Hong Kong and Macau ... their crew and pilots don full coveralls and must be quarantined once landing back in the U.S. As for why they'd do that ... they get hazard pay -- it's all part of the VIP treatment.

“We're seeing a 300% increase -- even as early last night,” Richard Zaher from Paramount told us. “There's a lot of people inquiring about private jets -- even people who can’t quite afford it.”

A senior aviation adviser at Stratos Jet Charters, Inc., Kyle Jones, also claims many Main Streeters want to roll like balling Wall Streeters.

“We’re definitely seeing an influx of clients, for sure,” the advisor said of his company, which serves as a middleman to 100 private jet operators who fly in and out of celeb hubs like Teterboro and Miami airports. He adds, “requests have gone up in the past couple weeks due to the coronavirus, and not necessarily with our regular fliers, but with people who maybe don’t have the money, and don’t normally fly private.”

The lion's share of asks are coming from executive assistants dialing the outfit to fetch quotes (starting at around $7,000 a seat).

Angela Vargo -- a rep for the 4-year-old JSX -- which coined the Uber-esque tagline, “hop on jet service” -- noted that they are also witnessing piqued interest by customers angling for one of the 30 seats on their 23 Embraer 135 or 145 model planes.

And, while she couldn’t tie it directly to COVID-19, she did say flying private is a more viable travel option right now to quell most of the virus fears.

Also, the company is rolling out intense sterilization techniques and its jets are stocking up on coronavirus must-haves.

Bad news for health freaks planning to hit up Arnold Schwarzenegger's Sports Festival this weekend ... the event has been terminated due to the coronavirus. For now.

The event in Columbus, OH is the country's biggest health and fitness expo ... where a quarter-million people gather every year to check out all the new equipment, apparel and nutrition booths.

While there has only been one reported investigation into coronavirus in Ohio, Ah-nold wasn't willing to take any risks -- after all, it is a HEALTH expo.

Schwarzenegger made the announcement via speakerphone at the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday ... saying he hopes to reschedule the expo when the disease is under control.

"The Coronavirus is dangerous and there are health risks involved," Arnold said. "We have biggest and best health and fitness festival in the world but we would never choose making money over people's health."

The decision has been made -- the 2020 Olympic Games WILL happen as planned despite a worldwide coronavirus scare, the IOC said on Tuesday.

There have been talks in recent weeks about postponing or even canceling the games due to the disease spreading at a rapid rate ... after IOC exec. Dick Pound said a decision should come late May.

The IOC's Mark Adams put all the speculation to rest during a press briefing ... saying the Games will, in fact, kick off July 24.

"The Games are going ahead on the 24th of July and we completely expect to deliver them on that date. All the advice we've been given is that that can go ahead, from the WHO and other organizations."

Adams was asked a TON of follow-up questions about the decision, but was adamant the Games are happening as planned.

So far, more than 90,000 people have reportedly been diagnosed with Coronavirus in 71 countries -- with more than 3,000 deaths.

Uncle Sam's been prepping for coronavirus worst-case scenarios since last month by stockpiling hazmat suits ... nearly half a million dollars worth!!!

TMZ did some digging into what the feds spent in February, specifically any items labeled for "coronavirus." The Office of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response allocated $449,000 for coveralls -- those contamination-free suits you've seen lately in China and Italy.

Unfortunately, you've also seen 'em in movies like "Outbreak."

The ASPR filed a nearly $393k order for coveralls with Grainger Industrial Supply -- which sells coveralls for as low as $10 and as high as $4k a pop, depending on how advanced ya wanna get. A separate $56k order was placed with another company, McKesson Medical-Surgical.

Typically, this government office is more focused on relief measures like porta-potties, hand-washing stations, custodial services and public transportation. In fact, the ASPR spent about $2.53 million on that stuff to help combat the coronavirus crisis.

The additional half a mil for coveralls is an indication of how serious the feds are about dealing with the virus.

All in all ... the ASPR's dropped about $3.8 million on coronavirus relief since Feb. 11.

Other federal offices have spent cash too -- the Dept. of Veteran's Affairs spent about $212k for coronavirus matters, and the CDC itself dropped $116k or so for lab supplies.